YOYOHASHI, JAPAN—According to a report in the Japan Times, archaeologists have analyzed the Sakatsuji Shell Midden, which is one of seven prehistoric shell middens in Honshu’s Aichi Prefecture. The researchers said that some 4,500 years ago, Sakatsuji Shell Midden was located along the sea coast, and was likely to have been a clam processing site. The mound currently measures about five feet tall, 20 feet wide, and 80 feet long, and has at least four layers and 55 possible furnaces made of stones. During the mid-Jomon period, people are thought to have traveled to the site to dig clams and boil them in the furnaces. After the clammers stripped the meat from the shells, the researchers suggest they leveled the piles of shells so that the site could be used again. Since so many clams were prepared at a time, the stripped meat may have been dried after cooking so that it would last longer and could perhaps be traded. The team also determined that the Sakatsuji midden is at least 700 years older than the other middens in the region. For more, go to “Japan’s Early Anglers.”
